MINUTES
Tuesday, April 10, 2007, 10:30 am
Recount, Election of April 3, 2007, 3rd District Alderperson
The recount took place at Oak Creek City Hall, 8640 South Howell Avenue, Oak Creek, Wisconsin 53154, in the Common Council Chambers.
The opening and procedural discussion portion of the meeting was tape-recorded.
OPENING:
The Oak Creek City Clerk announced that this is a convening of the Board of Canvass for the City of Oak Creek, for the purpose of conducting a recount of the votes cast for 3rd District Alderperson candidates at the April 3, 2007 election. Notice was properly posted notice and appropriate media sources were advised
ROLL CALL:
The following individuals were also present:
Others present: Steve Scaffidi, Alderperson candidate and Kathy Scaffidi, his spouse; Mark Verhalen, Alderperson-elect was present for occasional brief periods.
RECOUNT INTRODUCTION:
The Board of Canvass met on April 4, 2007 to verify the results of the April 3rd Election, which included verifying results in the 3rd Aldermanic District. Those results indicated the following:
Candidate Steve Scaffidi received 386 votes; Candidate Mark Verhalen received 401 votes and was determined to have been successfully elected.
A verified recount petition (Form EB-186 Rev. 9/88) (Exhibit 1) was filed with the City Clerk, the appropriate filing officer, from candidate Steve Scaffidi on Monday, April 9, 2007 at 10:00 AM. In this case, the deadline for filing such petition was 5PM on Wed. 4/10/07. Due to earlier filing, the recount was scheduled for Tuesday, April 10, 2007 at 10:30 AM.
Because the total number of votes in District 3 was less than 1,000, in accordance with Wis. Statutes, the petitioner would not be charged if the vote differential were 10 votes or less. In this case, the differential was 15 votes, so the petitioner was notified of the charge of $5.00 per ward, for a total charge of $15.00, which he agreed to pay. Payment was made prior to the beginning of the recount. (Exhibit 2)
At this point, neither the petitioner nor candidate wished to have the petition read into the record, so the document was marked as Exhibit #1 for the record.
The procedure followed for this recount was in accordance with Wis. State Statutes, Sec. 9.01, as set forth in the Election Recount Procedures handout dated February 2007. A copy is included with the official record. (Exhibit 3)
REPORT ON RECOUNT PROCEDURES PRIOR TO BOARD OF CANVASS MEETING ON APRIL 10TH
A letter of notification and a copy of the petition form were provided for both candidates notifying them of the recount petition and schedule. Both candidates were first notified by telephone call or voicemail message. Police department personnel hand-delivered notification to Mark Verhalen. A copy was made for distribution to Steve Scaffidi on April 10th. Copies of the recount procedure handout from the State Elections Board were made for distribution to the candidates or their representatives at the April 10th recount.
The Board of Canvass meeting was posted at 10:27 AM on Monday, April 9th, for a meeting on Tuesday, April 10, 2007, at 10:30 AM, thus complying with Wis. Open Meetings requirements.
REPORT ON VOTING MATERIALS NEEDED FOR THE RECOUNT
The memory pack for the Eagle voting tabulator was kept in the City’s vault from the time immediately after the election until the morning of the recount.
Ballots and election return materials for the 3rd District were returned to the Election Commission on April 4th, R. Bulger, City of Oak Creek staff member, retrieved the ballots and election return materials from the Milw. County Election Commission on Monday, April 9th. Signed Chain of Custody slips verify that all of the election materials had been handled only by authorized persons from the time of poll closing on April 3rd until the recount commenced.
RECOUNT PROCESS:
Pertinent voting information was reviewed for the following reporting unit:
City of Oak Creek, District 3, Wards 7, 8, & 9
Handled by: P. Bauer & R. Underberg
Two poll lists were matched to each other to be sure that each list showed entries for the same voters, the same voter numbers, and the same absentee voter number notations. That review included comparing the list of Election Day Registered Voters. A tally of entries on the poll lists showed a total of 817 voters noted, including 76 absentee voters.
Reporting items:
Page 8, Voter: Baganz, Nathan
On City list: notation was made that voter moved to Racine,
On County list: no notation was made.Since this voter did not vote, this item appears to be informational only, for follow-up by the Clerk’s office after election.
Page 41, Voter: Ciske, Lillian –
On City list: no entry was made,
On County list: Voter #551 was crossed out and a ? mark entered.This appears to be a clerical error in recording a voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the name or number of the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 49, Voter: Denzien, Thomas
On City list: Voter #281 was shown,
On County list: Voter #481 was crossed off and replaced with #281This appears to be a clerical error in recording the correct voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the number assigned to the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 50, Voter: Devillers, Robert
On City list: Voter #491 was shown,
On County list: Voter #490 was shown.This appears to be a clerical error in recording the correct voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the number assigned to the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 56, Voter: Drews, Jennifer
On City list: Notation made that voter moved to St. Francis
On County list: No notation was made.Since this voter did not vote, this item was informational only, for follow-up by Clerk’s office after election.
Page 56, Voter: Fehlhaber, John
On City list: Voter #745 was shown,
On County list: Voter #755 was shown.This appears to be a clerical error in recording the correct voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the number assigned to the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 85, Voter: Hackett, James P.
On City list: Voter #434 was shown,
On County list: Voter #424 was shown.This appears to be a clerical error in recording the correct voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the number assigned to the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 90, Voter: Haworth, Cheryl L.
On City list: Voter #115 was entered then crossed out
On County list: No entry was shown.This appears to be a clerical error in recording the correct voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the number assigned to the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 115, Voter: Kanczewski, Michelle
On City list: Voter # was entered than crossed out,
On County list: No entry was shown.This appears to be a clerical error in recording the correct voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the number assigned to the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 137, Voter: Laru, Andrew
On City list: Voter # 155 was shown,
On County list: Voter # was crossed off, replaced with #155This appears to be a clerical error in recording the correct voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the number assigned to the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 183, Voter: Ogrodzinski, Angeline
On City list: Voter # 458 was shown,
On County list: Voter # corrected to show #458, initialed by MRThis appears to be a clerical error in recording the correct voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the number assigned to the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 196, Voter: Popp, Jonathan
On City list: Voter #539 was shown,
On County list: Voter #104 was crossed out, replaced with #539, initialed by MR.This appears to be a clerical error in recording the correct voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the number assigned to the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 216, Voter: Rudolf, Ralph
On City list: Voter # was crossed off, replaced with #520
On County list: Voter #520 was shown.This appears to be a clerical error in recording the correct voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the number assigned to the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 221, Voter: Scaffidi, Kathleen
On City list: Voter #514 was shown,
On County list: Voter #354-Abs was crossed off, replaced with #514, initialed by MR.This appears to be a clerical error in recording the correct voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the number assigned to the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 239, Voter: Slattery, Scott
On City list: Middle initial was corrected to read “R”
On County list: Middle initial was corrected to read “R”This item was informational only, for follow-up by Clerk’s office after election.
Page 249, Voter: Stong, Rosa
On City list: Voter #813 was crossed off and replaced with #812
On County list: Voter #813 was crossed off and replaced with #812.This appears to be a clerical error in recording the correct voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the number assigned to the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 261, Voter: Turkowski, Tiffany
On City list: Voter # was corrected to read #816
On County list: Voter # was shown as #816.This appears to be a clerical error in recording the correct voter number next to the appropriate name, possibly due to a pollworker incorrectly hearing the number assigned to the announced voter, but does not appear to be of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Page 263, Voter: Uyhely, Tara
On City list: Voter name was highlighted, no voter # shown
On County list: Voter name was highlighted, no voter # shownThis was indicated for follow-up by the Clerk’s office after the election, according to a note included with the Inspectors statement.
Page 269, Voter: Vonstockhausen, Margar(et)
On City list: Voter name highlighted with final 2 letters of name shown
On County list: “This was indicated for follow-up by the Clerk’s office after the election, according to a note included with the Inspectors statement, requesting the final two letters of the voter’s name be included.
Page 270, Voter: Wahl, Sandra
On City list: Voter name was highlighted, no voter # shown
On County list: Voter name was highlighted, no voter # shownThis was an indication for follow-up by the Clerk’s office after the election, according to a note found with the Inspectors statement.
Page 272, Voter: Wallace, Larry
On City list: Voter address was highlighted, correction noted from 515 E. Laverne to 510 E. Laverne.
On County list: “This was an indicatin for follow-up by the Clerk’s office after the election, according to a note found with the Inspectors statement.
There were no other irregularities noted on the poll lists.
Summary: Due to the physical set-up at this district’s polling site, it appears that some difficulty is experienced by the pollworkers when trying to hear the voter number being assigned to voters. The corrections were likely made when the poll lists are reconciled throughout the day. Overall, the items listed appear to be merely clerical oversights and not of a fraudulent nature.
Handled by: B. Buretta & D. Allard; also reviewed by P. Bauer & R. Underberg
Registration forms for the individuals entered on the list of Election Day Registered voters were also reviewed by B. Buretta & D. Allard. Only minor irregularities were found:
Two registration forms were missing the date, and one was missing the voter’s signature. These appear to be clerical oversights and not of a remarkable or fraudulent nature.
Handled by : B. Buretta & D. Allard
Comparison was made of the voter names and number of valid written applications, the names and number of used absentee certificate envelopes, and the number of notations made on the poll lists. There were 76 absentee ballot applications,
Reporting items:
Voter: Greulich, Elizabeth Permanent Absentee ballot application was not dated.
Voter: Marx, Elizabeth Permanent Absentee ballot application was not dated, but was postmarked in 2004.
Voter: Oczus, Helen Permanent Absentee ballot application was not dated, but was postmarked in 2004
Voter: Schaefer, Charles Two permanent Absentee ballot applications were received, dated 9/8/06 and 10/6/06; they were stapled together, with only one ballot issued.
These reporting items appear to be minor clerical oversights, and not remarkable or fraudulent occurrences.
The used Absentee-Certificate envelopes were reviewed for proper execution. There were no defective ballot envelopes. There were 76 used envelopes, corresponding to the number of absentee ballot applications. The pollworkers had not signed the ballot container envelope, but this appears to be a clerical oversight.
There were no Rejected Absentee ballots; the pollworkers had not signed the ballot container envelope, but this appears to be a clerical oversight.
Handled by: B. Buretta, D. Allard, E. Piasecki & R. Kulka
Regular optical-scan Ballots were in sealed plastic ballot containers; seals were cut by R. Kulka.
Although there were no discrepancies in the absentee ballot review or other voter numbers, the absentee ballots were separated, and all ballots were reviewed to determine if any could have been misread or unread by the Eagle machine. There were no ballots in question. In addition, D. Allard & E. Piasecki separated the ballots by candidate and conducted a manual count of votes for each.
The paper ballot roll from the Edge machine was cut into separate ballots for ease of separation and counting. These ballots were sorted in the same manner as the optical-scan ballots.
Handled by B. Buretta, E. Piasecki, & R. Kulka
The Voter Certification slip was checked to make sure the seal numbers matched the broken seal included with the Eagle memory pack. R. Kulka handled setting up the voting machine and running a zero tape. All ballots were then processed. At the completion of the ballot running, the number of voters showing on the Eagle machine (679) was matched against the number reported on April 2 (also 679). Vote totals according to the tabulator tape remained the same as reported on April 3rd .
The Edge machine paper ballots were counted by hand. The tally showed the same results as those reported on April 3rd: 138 total votes cast on the machine, Scaffidi, 84; Verhalen, 52.
The following is a summary of the recount totals:
Original 4/3/07 Recount 4/10/07
Edge |
Eagle |
Total |
Poll list |
Edge |
Eagle |
Total |
Poll list |
|||
# Voters |
138 |
679 |
817 |
817 |
138 |
679 |
817 |
817 |
||
# Abs Ballot applications |
- |
- |
76 |
- |
- |
- |
76 |
- |
||
# Abs Ballots, poll-list |
- |
- |
- |
76 |
- |
- |
- |
76 |
||
# Used Abs Envelopes |
- |
- |
76 |
- |
- |
- |
76 |
- |
||
# of Rejected Abs Ballots |
- |
- |
0 |
0 |
- |
- |
0 |
0 |
||
Votes by Candidate: |
||||||||||
S. Scaffidi |
84 |
302 |
386 |
- |
84 |
302 |
386 |
- |
||
M. Verhalen |
52 |
349 |
401 |
- |
52 |
349 |
401 |
- |
||
CONCLUSION OF THE RECOUNT PROCESS:
At the conclusion of all procedures, the following vote totals were entered on a final certification form:
Stephen Scaffidi 386
Mark Verhalen 401
The final result is that the outcome of the election remains unchanged. Properly elected to the position of 3rd District Alderperson is Mark Verhalen. A revised final statement of the Board of Canvassers was prepared and is attached to this record. (Exhibit 4) The recount concluded and the Board of Canvassers adjourned at 12:45 PM. Materials related to the recount were again resealed, to be returned to Milwaukee County Election Commission, to be verified with a chain of custody document. The recount tape printout will be retained with the City’s election materials.
Note: The chain of custody document was notated and the materials were returned to the County office on 04/11/07 where a representative at that office also executed the chain of custody document (Exhibit 5).
Minutes completed April 13, 2007 by
_______________________________________________
Beverly A. Buretta
Copies provided to:
Milwaukee County Election Commission
Wisconsin State Elections Board
Beverly Buretta, City Clerk, City of Oak Creek
Stephen Scaffidi, Candidate
Mark Verhalen, Alderperson-elect
Mayor & Common Council